CrossFit Oakland: Performance or Aesthetics?

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March 9, 2008

Performance or Aesthetics?

Papua_New%20Guinea_Asaro_Mudman.JPG

Mudmen from Papua New Guinea

We're going to venture down a different path than the one we're normally on, the one related to performance, health, and fitness.

Let's face it, we all care about how we look. The question that often vexes us, though, is whether we should focus on performance to achieve the look we're after.

As many of you may already know, I'm a regular reader of Robb Wolf's work, in particular his excellent blog. And since Robb is far smarter than I, I'm simply going to reference one of his entries on this very subject, rather than come up with something far less insightful and well-reasoned than Robb has already put forward.

The original entry, Performance-Based Aesthetics, can be found here. And the entire post has been reprinted below.

Read through it and post your thoughts on the topic to comments.

Performance Based Aesthetics?

Posted on February 8, 2008

This is a follow-up to the Yo-yo post in which we looked at some “why’s” behind food-issues/non-compliance. Now…I’m going to give away the punch line to this post: Focus on performance to achieve better aesthetics. That is some good info but similar to the yo-yo post I want to look at why it is so hard to pull that off. In the yo-yo post I made a case that we are not wired for self control. In this post I want to make the case we are wired to be dead-sexy…and we are acutely aware of who is and who is not.

Hunter-Gatherer Economics

You may be thinking the terms “economics” and “hunter-gatherer” are misplaced! Not at all. Keep in mind economics deals with resource allocation, not nickles, dimes and shekels. In the case of hunter-gatherers economics describes foraging strategies, division of labor, food sharing and a myriad of other behaviors that made the HG life-way amazingly efficient. Ethnographic studies put average HG “work” at about 15 hrs per week. This provided for food, clothing, shelter, firewood…everything one needed to live. Now this was a very active 15 hrs but once those toils were accomplished HG’s found themselves with vast stretches of time in which to socialize, relax…and beautify. Beautify? Yes indeed. Tinker with hair, tattoo, scar, paint. A commonality of all HG cultures was a strong emphasis on aesthetics and a surprising resource allocation to enhance ones appearance.

Whoa! That can’t be! Looks are so banal, so Western. Is this original sin? An overvaluing of our lowly selves? Maybe. Or maybe that’s a bunch of limiting value judgments that obscure the reality of our situation and our heritage. Looks are strongly influence social status and (perceived) reproductive potential. Whether we like to admit it or not biology, particularly reproduction, is a potent motivator.

My point here is that the desire to look good and to be well regarded socially is woven into our DNA…and it is STRONG. The economic strategy our species is wired to use ties together food, sex and socialization in a synergistic manner and aesthetics are an important part of all of this. Are you still with me? Aesthetics=important…on many levels.

Now lets consider that HG’s were active and healthy. Anthropological accounts describe them as “beautiful, strong and robust”. Bone density, strength and endurance were on par with Olympic caliber athletes. So our default mode is to be active, strong, well fed and rested. It’s tough to look like shit when you have all those ducks in a row!

I hope I made the point that looks/aesthetics matter. Everyone wants to look good but putting looks ahead of performance is frequently the road to ruin. Whether you are a female wanting to be a size-whatever or a guy wanting to “get big” if the goals are purely aesthetic you will tend to fall into neurotic eating behaviors. This does not describe every situation, only about 99.999% of them! A simple google search with the terms “eating disorders by sport” clearly shows that the more AESTHETICS oriented a sport the more likely are eating disorders. Track&Field, basketball, volleyball tend to focus on performance and have a relatively low occurrence of eating disorders relative to dance and gymnastics. Wrestling produces a fair number of eating disorders due to the constant obsession with WEIGHT. Performance is almost forgotten in favor of trying to take as large an athlete as possible, dry him out, then hope you can bring them back to life for the event. In contrast, many jiu-jitsu tournaments require that competitors weigh-in immediately before a match. The scale is actually outside the mat area and you either make weight and you get to wrestle or don’t and you forfeit. I think this is a far more sane approach and it likely decreases the potential for squirrely eating.

In our training practice the folks who are performance oriented feed themselves well. When they know they have 18.973654 pull-ups and they will kill for the 19th we do not have problems with meal skipping or dicey food choices. When people get tired of coming in DFL (dead-fucking-last) they get serious about their food. Then the performance increases and the aesthetics take care of themselves.

The desire to put aesthetics first is strong, and to be sure it IS important and it is woven into our DNA. If you fall into this trap however you will have neither the aesthetics nor the performance that you otherwise could.

Posted by Mike Minium at March 9, 2008 7:17 PM

Comments

awesome post, Mike. I remember watching the film version of "Guns, Germs and Steel" and thinking how ripped the guys in Papua New Guinea are. Those guys have 100% functional physiques, it's pretty impressive. It's also one of the reasons I'm changing my career path to get out from behind the computer all day long. It's totally f-ing up my body.

As a side note, I always thought the wrestlers in high school were morons because of the way they ate. They didn't even have enough energy to stay awake during class. That's not healthy.

Posted by: Jonathan at March 9, 2008 8:20 PM

I would have to agree with Robb based on personal experience. I thought vanity and guilt trips would help motivate me to reach my fitness goals. I even turned down the opportunity to win $1000 from my co-workers in our "biggest loser" competition when the odds were in my favor. Originally the bet was $500, but I would not even consider giving up cookies and ice cream for less than $1000. I still have a long way to go but I lost 5lbs focusing on better performance. Hopefully I can reach my goal of being the ultimate metcon threat!

Thanks to xfit making working out fun, I have stopped using my asthma inhaler, overcome neurological deficits, and if I look sexy doing it....then that's just an added bonus ;)

Posted by: Tamara at March 9, 2008 10:27 PM

let me be the first to say... Tamara - you look damn sexy doin' it :)

Posted by: edgar at March 9, 2008 10:41 PM

When I get legs like yours Edgar, then my sexiness will be complete!

Posted by: Tamara at March 9, 2008 10:46 PM

To the Ladies of Crossfit: Thanks for a fun time yesterday. I was amazed that I could feel so totally intimidated and supported at the same time.

Posted by: Robyn at March 10, 2008 8:37 AM

Oh yeah - Cool post! Can't wait to share with my fellow Piedmont soccer moms (heh)! And Edgar and Tamara - you DEFINE sexy for me ;)

Posted by: Robyn at March 10, 2008 8:51 AM

I must agree with Robyn - Mad props to all of the CFO women. Now I am even more inspired determined to achieve a BW bench!! I can't wait to see Robyn, Vanessa and Melissa whip out 20 kips in a row - VERY SOON ;).

I must say...CFO is bringin' sexy back:)

Posted by: Audra at March 10, 2008 9:22 AM

Thanks Robyn you are way too kind. Don't think you are staying under the radar with those impressive squats! Did you have a chance to do the cleans? All the women stepped out of their comfort zone and took a step closer to achieving body weight. It's in the near future so keep pushing hard :)

Posted by: Tamara at March 10, 2008 11:25 AM

Performance? Bah! When you want to look good, all you need is Alli and cosmetic surgery. I have a friend who is actively pursuing both those options. I rather prefer my torn hands to excreting undigested fat.

Posted by: Tom C at March 10, 2008 1:34 PM

Tom-

Glad to see you blogging agian, but "excreting undigesting fat"? Ew! That's just gross, even for me!

Great post Mike, way to keep it real.

Posted by: cave connie at March 10, 2008 4:04 PM

Although I agree in part with this article, I believe it is also taking it a bit far to suggest that people like myself, who don't always eat how I know I should/want to, are somehow aesthetically motivated instead of performance motivated. Trust me, I want the best score and performance everytime I step in CFO. What happened to good old lazy and being broke? Somebody chime in...

Posted by: Patrick at March 10, 2008 4:38 PM

i'm all for lazy and being broke :p

Posted by: Jonathan at March 10, 2008 5:12 PM

I'll I have to say is that those guys from Papa New Guinea are ripped! They must be on some sort of New Guinean Creatine or something. Apparently the side affects of this substance turns your skin white and increases head size. I could live with that...

Posted by: daniel at March 10, 2008 5:30 PM

please excuse all my spelling and grammar mistakes...i work better with numbers

Posted by: daniel at March 10, 2008 6:05 PM

Nicole, you are in trouble!

Posted by: mojo rising at March 10, 2008 6:41 PM

I just knew a 5k was coming up tomorrow. I coulda bet anything on it.

Brandon and Audra to win.

Daniel, Connie, Beth and Patrick....?

Tamara - as rx'd.

Posted by: Brad Gilliatt at March 10, 2008 8:14 PM

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't done a 5K workout at CFO yet...I hate running and always took whatever excuse I could to skip those. But I'll be there tomorrow. What's the route? I'll bring Emma along--she loves to run. She'd kick all your butts if I weren't holding her back. :)

Posted by: Brad Greenlee at March 10, 2008 9:18 PM

Brandon is fast but does he have 5k endurance? My money on Mike or Nabil. I will stay out of the way and let the women run past me! 5K row not nearly as bad as the run, would definitely have to add Kilo's to the row.

Posted by: Tamara at March 10, 2008 11:46 PM

Posted by: Tamara at March 10, 2008 11:47 PM

Hello my friends :)
;)

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